The present invention is directed to an apparatus that provides a secure transfer station for home transfer between a customer and a laundry or dry cleaner when the owner of the cleaning cannot be present at the time when the cleaning must be transferred to a delivery agent who picks up the laundry or dry cleaning for a cleaners. The transfer station provides security against theft and vandalism, while having a relatively low profile when not in use.
During much of this century home delivery and pick up of various products was quite common. Items such as milk, bread, ice and laundry were either picked up or delivered to the home by the company providing the service which was very convenient for the homeowner. Unfortunately, the home owner cannot always be home at the time the delivery is to be made and, therefore, the items being delivered or picked up often must be left where the delivery person can have access to them. As more families have dual wage earners, finding someone at home during the day has become even more difficult.
There have been times historically when items left on the front porch or other places outside the house were relatively secure. At times doors were even left unlocked to allow delivery persons to bring items directly into the house. However, times have changed substantially and today items are much more prone to vandalism or theft, if they are left in the open. Consequently, many companies have stopped home service because of problems associated with vandalism or theft of their products and because of declining revenue in comparison to cost.
Recent studies and test marketing has shown that laundry and dry cleaning can still be picked up and delivered to the home at a reasonable profit to the cleaning company, provided that adequate security can be provided for the goods and that the routes are run on time and efficiently. In order to be efficient a delivery person cannot spend too great a period at any particular house and cannot come back at a later time, if an owner is not at home. Therefore, for a service of this type to be profitable, there must be an effective and secure way of transferring the clothing between the owner and the delivery person that is both quick and does not require the owner to be at home.
Prior art in this field has provided a number of devices for transferring clothing, including the devices that were invented by Peters and disclosed in his U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,631,338 and 2,635,304. Unfortunately, the Peters devices did not function well. The main reason for their failure was that they were cumbersome and unattractive. The homeowner typically did not want to bother with cumbersome devices and did not want unsightly structures placed on their house. Consequently, it is also desirable that the apparatus, when not transferring clothing, maintain a relatively low profile and be adaptable to being placed in a variety of places which would not detract from the appearance of the house.
Some of the Peters devices required a large structure which at least partially captured the clothing in a lock box. This presented a large profile which was undesirable and did not prevent a thief or vandal from reaching into the clothing and pulling out something such as pants.